Imagine running down a narrow leaf-covered trail full of rocks, roots, and downed trees in the middle of the night, with a lamp that isn’t working properly sometimes leaving you in total darkness. 

Imagine falling, not once, not twice, but five times while trying to maneuver across rugged terrain with an elevation gain of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. Imagine hearing critters rustling in the bushes surrounding you. Imagine being alone in the wilds of Missouri, running 100 miles, from dawn to dusk to dark to dawn again. Running, running, running. 

Imagine getting lost for a mile and a half, slipping and hitting your hand on a sharp rock, bleeding hard until rescued by a race aid a short distance away who put a bandage around it. Imagine your quads getting so sore you have to slow to a walk. Imagine being fueled by gels filled with maple syrup and honey, washed down with water and sports drinks, because the checkpoint food – quesadillas, grilled cheese, soup, cookies and fruit – is too difficult to process later in the race, as the running diverts blood away from the digestive system.

Imagine doing all this because you love to.

This is the life of Andy Emerson, the Department of Geography’s (and History's) senior business support specialist. While others were glued to the TV on Saturday, Nov. 7 watching the presidential win, Emerson was racing from checkpoint to checkpoint along a trail near Reynolds, Missouri, to Bass River Resort in Steelville, Missouri, as part of the Ozark Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run.

“I think the reason I do race … it seems like a really good opportunity to disconnect from everything. It’s quiet and you can kinda like think about nothing, de-stress,” says Emerson. “I also enjoy the trail community. It’s a good way to get to know people through the social aspect of running. You can run with people or run alone; you have a choice, and I like doing both.”

To read the full article, click https://geography.missouri.edu/news/imagine